Roman Reigns Match Made WWE Hall Of Famer Emotional
A wrestling legend was in tears watching a recent Roman Reigns match.
The first match took place in the new era of WWE where Raw is on Netflix saw Roman Reigns defeat Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat Match. It was a match that featured a lot of chaos, interference from members of each man’s Bloodline, and eventually Reigns found a way to win with a Spear.
After the match, The Rock went into the ring and presented Reigns with the red Ula Fala necklace that acknowledged Reigns as the Tribal Chief.
There was a long backstory going into the Reigns-Solo match since Reigns mentored his younger cousin Solo in the group while also working with The Usos and Sami Zayn. After Reigns took a WWE break after losing the WWE Title at WrestleMania 40, Solo claimed he was the Tribal Chief and took over The Bloodline while adding new members like Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa.
Rikishi is a WWE Hall of Famer who is the father of Solo along with The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso). Rikishi is also Roman’s cousin (even though in terms of age he’s more of an uncle) who is very close with Reigns, who grew up with The Usos.
While speaking on his Off The Top podcast, Rikishi admitted the Roman Reigns-Solo Sikoa match made him feel emotional.
“First of all, I want to give the fans that are listening to my personal feelings. And you know, those in the wrestling blog, you can definitely write about this. You know, the feeling of a father, home watching his family open up this first big, big mega show. You know, it’s almost bigger than Wrestlemania.
You know, all the things that ride with this first show with Netflix. And to be able to have your family open up the show — I don’t even know if proud is the word. Because now it’s just — you know, while I’m watching these two work, wrestle each other, it took me back to the porches of 60th Avenue, Pensacola, Florida.
From these kids here that were once young teenagers in high school, Escambia High School. And to be able to make history and continue to make history and deliver an outstanding performance. I was just so proud to know that these are our Bloodlines. We’ve come so far.”
Roman Reigns Facing Solo Sikoa In Tribal Combat Had Rikishi In Tears
As Rikishi continued, he spoke about the emotions he felt watching Roman Reigns in the ring with Solo Sikoa because of the journey that they’ve been on as pro wrestlers.
“You got a main event that’s opening up history with Netflix. And that is a lot of pressure, you can imagine. Roman is Roman. And I was watching my son Solo, man. I can’t tell you, man, I had a couple of tears run down my eyes. Just to know that you know how far this kid has come. It’s been a matter of three years, and the pressure that was, you know, opportunity given to him.
And you know, everything that he was taught, everything that he soaked in, the training and everything. And you can see that like I said before, he’s already a made man, and he belongs there. And to be able to make history happen with your cousin out there, it’s just a beautiful thing.
“And then how to tie it in with Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens. Isn’t that wrestling? Isn’t that entertainment, what we’ve always missed? You know what I mean? And again, you know, i’m sure the fans were happy the OTC, the Original Tribal Chief is now — has the Ula Fala.”
For the first time in five years, Roman Reigns will be in the Men’s Royal Rumble match on February 1st in Indianapolis. The announcement was made by the “Wise Man” Paul Heyman on Roman’s behalf. Reigns will be joined in the Royal Rumble by former WWE Champions like John Cena, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Rey Mysterio. The full 30-man field could have some surprises as well.